Munda people

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Munda are a tribal (Adivasi) people of the Jharkhand region, which is spread over on five states of India (Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhatisgarh and Orissa), and in parts of Bangladesh. Their language is Mundari, which belongs to the Munda subgroup of the Austro-Asiatic language family; the Munda language group is in fact named after the Munda people. There are some two million Munda people (twenty lakhs).

Contents 1 Religion and Identity 2 Counting 3 Notable Mundas 4 Bibliography 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit] Religion and Identity

• About 25 percent of the population are Christians. Mundas have their own religion, called Sarna, in which they worship nature. They believe in a supreme being called Sing Bonga, which literally means "Sun God". 'Sarna' is supposedly not part of Hinduism as emphasized by some.
• Common surnames (Gotras) are: Topno, Barla, Aind, Hemrom, Guria, Herenge, Surin, Horo, Sanga, Samad, Etc.
• Jesuit Father John-Baptist Hoffmann (1857-1928) spent his life studying the language, customs, religion and life of the Mundas, a people with whom he had fallen in love. He published the first Munda grammar in 1903. Later (with the help of Menas Orea, a Munda wise man and scholar to whom he paid a rich tribute) Hoffmann brought out a most extraordinary Encyclopaedia mundarica (15 volumes) gathering all that was then known on the Munda people. The first edition was published in 1937, after his death. A third edition came out of the press in 1976.

[edit] Counting

• "One"-Mi-a-en
• "Two"-Bariya bongu boshanam
• "Three"-Apiya
• "Four"-Upuniya
• "Five"-Modeya
• "Six"-Turiya
• "Seven"-Eya
• "Eight"-Irliya
• "Nine"-Ariya
• "Ten"-Geleya
• "Twenty"-Hissi.

Other higher numbers are pronounced by combining words from these in required order like "Twelve"-Gel-bariya[ten-two]

[edit] Notable Mundas

• Birsa Munda, leader of a late 19th century political independence movement during British colonial rule in India
• Jaipal Singh

[edit] Bibliography

• HOFFMANN, John-Baptist: Mundari Grammar, Calcutta, 1903.
• HOFFMANN, John-Baptist: A Mundari Grammar with exercises, 2 vol., Calcutta, 1905-09.
• HOFFMANN, John-Baptist: Encyclopaedia mundarica, 15 vol., Patna, 1930-37.
• PONETTE, P. (ed): The Munda World. Hoffmann commemoration volume, Ranchi, 1978.

[edit] Further reading

• Parkin, R. (1992). The Munda of central India: an account of their social organization. Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195630297

[edit] External links

• Sarna - A case study in religion On the religion of the Munda tribals

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